Nice to see lots of posts here and welcome back Alpacalover.

I got my final thesis draft with scribbled feedback in the post today, so will be back on the work track soon, working through that. Not too many things to fix, so that's encouraging. It looks nice and thick in the envelope, with the title page, contents and everything :)

I had a thesis monitoring committee meeting recently as well, which was a bit of a formality since I'd just handed in a final draft to my supervisor. Rather than checking I was on track for the thesis it was more about asking other things specific to my situation. It was really nice to have a relaxed discussion at the end of the process, and see the end in sight. Hope yours goes well too Alpacalover.

Off back for another lie down. Not functioning very well today so won't be tackling that draft until later, or possibly even tomorrow.

In my thesis (humanities) I have something like the following in a footnote:

In private correspondence *** expert *** *** observed that ‘QUOTE FROM THE PERSON SENT IN AN EMAIL'.

Good luck to everyone in this thread! I've heard back from my supervisor and have an outline of the few things that need to be changed before submission. Just waiting for my final draft (with scribbled feedback) to turn up in the post, then it's back to the grindstone for a few more weeks for me.

We'll get there!

I was prescribed SSRI anti-depressants: initially Citalopram 20mg, but that caused severe constipation in my case (a possible side-effect which can occasionally happen) so I couldn't stay on that, and switched instead to Sertraline 50mg which worked as well on the anxiety but without the bad side-effect. Both prescriptions were starting doses, don't knock me out, and sorted out the anxiety. SSRIs dampen down the emotional response, but in a controlled way for me at these doses. I can still function well, and have virtually finished my PhD.

I've been on the Sertraline for a year now and it's transformed things for me.

Thanks Eska. And best wishes to you too.

I started on anxiety meds part-way through my part-time humanities PhD. They helped me no end. I could still work on the PhD, but wasn't stressing about daft things (everything!) any more.

Seriously though go and see your doctor. There are things they can do to help. And although meds are good to be avoided, they can make a sudden difference.

Counselling is good too, but that's more of a long-term solution. But meds can help a lot in the short-term.

I'm due to submit by March too. It's my absolute university deadline, barring getting an extension. But I expect to make it. Good luck to you with yours.

I presented a paper at an international conference some years ago. I just wore comfy trousers and a smart shirt, so smart casual basically. Because I had a transatlantic flight and no ironing facilities ease of travel and non-creasing was also important. Everyone else there seemed very relaxed too.

Put a section break after each chapter? That should do it. Then each section can have its own separate header.

That sounds doable then Sue. I found that once I had a near-complete first draft things moved very quickly, and it took very little time to rework into a good 2nd draft and so on - especially because I only had about 5 good hours a week, so was putting very little time into this in practice.

My one slight concern is that you've still to sort out the references - I seem to remember you saying you'd left those. I did almost all of mine as I wrote my chapters (about 550 footnotes in total - eek!), but it still took ages to sort out the relatively small number I'd left undone. Don't leave that too late. It's always more time-consuming than you'd think.

I only have 3 months to submission: the end of March is my absolute university deadline (6 years part-time), and unless I get an extension that's it. Must submit by then. On the plus side I've virtually finished, and so long as my supervisor (currently looking over my final draft) doesn't throw a spanner in the works I'll be ok. I've been pottering on my bibliography and appendices over the Christmas holiday period. So I am nearly there, but the tension does hit me at times.

How much have you yet to do Sue? I seem to remember you had quite a lot of chapters under your belt.

When I started my first PhD I wasn't at all nervous, thought everything would be fine, and just took things in my stride. For the record I was only just 22 when I started the PhD, and I didn't do a Masters course after the first degree (science student: wasn't the done thing back then).

Obviously things went pear-shaped with that PhD, though that was down to the long-term illness developing shortly after I started my full-time PhD. I didn't ever think I'd have another go, let alone in a totally different discipline. Even when I was coming to the end of my part-time history Masters I didn't think I'd do a PhD. But then - suddenly and unexpectedly - a topic I loved came up, and so I decided to just have a go, and applied quickly and started some way through the academic year. No funding, and I had to study part-time, but I won AHRC funding part-way through my first year.

I was much older the second time around, and knew what to expect from the PhD process which I think has helped me get to (almost now) the end. But I wasn't intimidated the first time around either.

But I would have thought doubts were fairly natural. So don't worry unduly. But equally don't set the standard so high. Your ideas can be very vague at this stage. Staff you speak to won't expect you to have worked out methodology etc. in any great detail. You're still finding your feet in your field. Plenty of time (a whole PhD to be honest!) to narrow things down.

My overall question has changed all the way through, right up to when I tackled my conclusions chapter some months ago! That's the fancy-sounding question at least. The broad idea hadn't changed, but the fancy academic sounding bit did. In my case it was more a case of discovering where I'd ended up at the end of my research, rather than changing direction. I also had a very open-ended enquiry, without preconceived ideas/conclusions at the start. So more room for change.

I'm not going to buy any more books. I have huge difficulty reading now, and as much as I still want to read books I buy them and then can't. So no more. Instead I will struggle to read some of those I already have and haven't read, or haven't read in a long time. I will put a few select ones of short stories on wish lists for people to get me, but otherwise no. No point. Sad but there you go.